MOVIE REVIEW: 'Son of Joseph' loaded with humor and heart

“The Son of Joseph” is a clever retelling of the Nativity set in modern-day Paris, complete with an ass treading across sand and an unconventional family headed by Joseph and Mary.

By Al Alexander/For The Patriot Ledger

It’s a cold, hard truth that in Hollywood, God and celluloid just don’t mix. Secular is the way – profit over prophet. But expatriate Eugene Green isn’t going to let that stop him from taking the pulpit to raise holy hell about the selfishness and greed sweeping the globe. Think of him as the anti-Trump; a filmmaker wedded to the notion you get more with sugar than with tweets. And you needn’t be a disciple to buy what he’s preaching through humor and heart in “The Son of Joseph” It’s an old testament to the New Testament; a clever retelling of the Nativity set in modern-day Paris, complete with an ass treading across sand and an unconventional family headed by Joseph and Mary. Well, OK, Marie, but close enough. Like the Blessed Virgin, Marie (radiant Natacha Regnier) is a single mother with a consecrated teenaged son who has never seen the mysterious “father” whose identity she’s long kept secret. But now the boy is 16, determined to discover where he came from, even if it means breaking some golden rules. Green, who grew up in New York before relocating to Paris after high school, is a devout follower of the arts, principally biblical paintings from the 17th century. But one in particular, Caravaggio’s dramatic “The Sacrifice of Isaac,” provides the catalyst for the Boy’s journey from shoplifter to healer. And by going for Baroque, Green sates his need to parody the pretensions of a French culture ignorant to its stuffy bourgeois attitudes toward art.

Most of that venom is directed at a certain Oscar Pormenor, a pompous Parisian publisher played with smug, slithery charm by French treasure Mathieu Amalric. Pormenor is about to become the leading suspect in the unorthodox quest by cherub-faced Vincent (beguiling and charismatic newcomer Victor Ezenfis) to unearth his Pops. But be careful what you wish for, as Vincent soon learns during a hilarious book-launch party he crashes.

Clearly, Green doesn’t suffer these literary types lightly, evidenced by a wonderfully satirical scene in which Vincent toys with a doltish book critic played with deep deadpan comedic chops by Maria De Medeiros, most famous on these shores as Bruce Willis’ ditsy French sidekick in “Pulp Fiction.” The scene comes early in the picture, but it represents the defining moment of whether you’re game for Green’s bone-dry sense of humor or eyeing the exits. It’s not for everyone. But if you become a believer, cinematic miracles are in store.

Most come courtesy of Ezenfis, a real find who effortlessly carries the picture with his angelic presence. His Vincent goes searching for a father, but winds up finding a dad in a kind, compassionate pauper in Joseph (Green muse Fabrizio Rongione), a veteran of many trials and tribulations. The two actors are magical, and both are game for Green’s kooky style of shooting them straight on looking directly into the camera as they spout – straight-faced – Green’s tongue-in-cheek views on art and paternity. Funny, yes; but “The Son of Joseph” is also surprisingly moving in a redemptive finale that pays homage to not just the Christmas story, but the French Resistance as well. And it does it with reverence and a sense of joy that’s immaculate in its conception. THE SON OF JOSEPH (Not rated.) Cast includes Victor Ezenfis, Natacha Regnier, Mathieu Amalric, Fabrizio Rongione and Maria De Medeiros. In French with English subtitles. Grade: B+